memories of pitcairn

Memories of Pitcairn

Louis A. Chandler, Ph.D.

PITCAIRN, PA.

Today it is a grassy patch of land along the Turtle Creek, overgrown with weeds and scraggly locust trees. A path meanders through the underbrush, and a walk along that silent path, echoes with a time when there was a trembling beneath the feet – the very earth shaking to the thundering roar of massive locomotives as they rumbled through the night. It was a time when the very air was pierced with the screech of high-pitched whistles, the clang of bells, and the shuddering squeal of air brakes as mighty steam engines lumbered across the landscape. It was the time of the railroads!

And on this very spot, stood the largest railroad marshalling yards east of the Mississippi -- the Pitcairn Yards. This massive facility was the crown jewel of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Eastern Division. This is the story of the yards, the town, and its people. It is the story of Pitcairn.............